When the clock struck midnight on Dec. 31, 2008, Baltimore registered its fewest number of homicides in 20 years. I asked then whether the news was a positive trend or continuing tragedy.

Obviously, if just one person loses his or her life at the hands of another, that's one life lost too many. But reality is reality, and city leaders could point to the 234 homicides in 2008 and claim that things were moving in the right direction.

But earlier this week, the headlines turned much more grim, when The Sun reported that Baltimore's homicide rate was the highest in the nation for cities with more than 500,000 residents. Baltimore experienced 37 homicides per 100,000 residents last year, ahead of Detroit, which had 34 per 100,000 residents, according to data compiled by the FBI.

When cities with more than 100,000 residents were added to the mix, Baltimore came in third, behind New Orleans and St. Louis. Still, do all these rankings and statistics really matter? Should we concern ourselves with where our number of citizens shot down positions us among our fellow American cities?

My general feeling is that the homicide rate is too often used as an barometer of how the city is faring against all crime. I understand why it happens; it's an easy, straight-forward number for the media and politicians to track. It's also the ultimate crime. But regardless of whether too much stock is put into this particular crime "statistic," Baltimore needs to continue reducing its homicide rate, not to improve its standing in any rankings, but to save its citizens from becoming just another statistic.